Reed-organ



O c F. PRITOHARD.

REED ORGAN. N0. 427,360. Patented May 6,1890.

m: mmms P512115 (10., wow-mum, wuumc-wu, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFIcE.

FREDERICK PRITCHARD, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

REED-ORGAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,360, dated May 6, 1890.

I Application filed March 25, 1889. Serial No.304,64'7. (N0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK PRITCHARD, of Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Reed-Organs; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a vertical section of so much of an orguinette as necessary to illustrate the invention, the section cutting through the operator inlet-passage and exhaust-chamber; Fig. 2, a like section showing modification. Fig. 3 represents also a modification.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of reed-organs in which a pneumatic operator is employed, worked by exhaust. In such pneumatic operators the opening therefrom into the exhaust is necessarily very sinall as compared with the inlet-opening to the operator. A difficulty is experienced in such operators arising from the admission to the operator of dust and other foreign sub stances which may pass in with the current of air. Such dust or foreign substances are necessarily drawn to the vent, and, the vent-aperture being very small, frequently lodge there, so as to practically close the vent.

The object of my invention is to avoid this difliculty; and it consists in introducing into the passage which leads to the exhaust-vent a screen the perforations 0r mesh of which are smaller than the vent-aperture, and the screen arranged so that a reverse draft may be applied to remove obstructions gathered by the screen, as more fully hereinafter described.

' The invention is particularly applicable to that class of reed-organs which are automatical in their action, commonly called orguinettes, and in which the exposure for the admission of dust or foreign substances is much greater than in some other classes of instruments. The invention, however, is applicable to other reed-organs where the pneumatic operator is employed.

In illustrating the invention I show in Fig. 1 a vertical section of so much of an orguinette as necessary to illustrate the invention.

A represents the usual exhaust-chamber; B, the pneumatic operator; C, the vent-opening from the follower of the operator into the exhaust-ch amber; D, the passage which leads to the operator. The vent C is of smaller area than the opening into the passage D. Consequently as the exhaust is applied, the supply of air to the operator being greater than its possible escape through the vent C, the follower will be drawn down and in such downward movement will operate the valve E. This is a common mechanism.

Into the inlet-passage D a screen F is introduced. This screen is best made of cup shape, as seen in Fig. 2, drawn up from woven wire the mesh of which is less than the vent C of the operator. This cup shape gives ita support in the passage, the passage being of corresponding shape, and so that the air drawn in through the passage must pass through the screen before it can enter the operator, and as the mesh of the screen is finer than the vent C it necessarily follows that no obstruction can pass the screen F suflicient to stop at or clog the vent. The foreign substances which may be thus caught by the vent may be removed by a reverse action exhausting through the passage Dsay as by a tube Gr, (indicated in broken lines, Fig. 1,) applied to the aperture into the passage D and leading to the exhaust of the organ, so that the exhaust force of the organbellows may be applied to exhaust or draw the foreign substances from the screenor, which I prefer, a valve, as H, maybe arranged at some convenient point, with a passage leading from the valve-seat outside the screen, which valve may at any time be conveniently opened to allow the exhaust to operate directly upon the screen and draw from it foreign particles which may have been arrested thereon. This valve may be opened mechanicallysay as by a push-pin, as represented in Fig. 1, where the valve is shown in the open position-and as the clearing-passages will all be in line a single valve may be of an extent sufficient to cover the whole or any number of the said passages.

In Fig. 2 I illustrate the vent C as formed in the passage which leads to the operator B and the screen set over the vent. In this case the clearing-valve II is arranged to cover an opening into the passage D between the screen and the inlet to the passage. This valve opens to the exhaust-chamber of the organ, and the stop I maybe arranged so that by the pulling of the stop the valve II will be opened, as indicated in broken. lines, and so that at any time desired the obstructions may be removed by simply pulling the stop, it being understood that all the passages are opened by the stop, so that all the said passages may be exhausted at the same time.

In Fig. 3 I show the invention applied to an operator in which the follower is connected to the chamber by a diaphragm. In this case the screen F is arranged in the inletpassage D. This modification shows an opening E in the passage before the screen, with a valve L arranged to be opened to clear the passage, the valve normally standing closed. As I have stated, the screen may be made from metal perforated or from woven wire, it only being essential that the perforations through the screen shall be individually less than the area of the vent. By the term perforated screen I wish to be understood as includin g either woven or perforated. The illustration which I have thus made of the application of my invention will be sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to apply the screen to different arrangements of pneumatic operator.

I am aware that a screen has been introduced in reed-instruments through which air would pass to the reed-openings, and therefore do not claim, broadly, the employment of a screen for the protection of the air-passages.

I claim 1. In the herein-described improvement in musical instruments in which pneumatic operators are employed and in which the vent from the operator is of less diameter than the inlet-opening, the combination therewith of the perforated screen F, arranged between the said vent and the inlet, the perforations of the screen being of less individual area than the vent-opening, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In the herein-described improvement in musical instruments in which pneumatic operators are employed and in which the vent from the operator is of less diameter than the inlet opening, the combination therewith of the perforated screen F, arranged between the said vent and the inlet, the perforations of the screen being of less individual area than the vent-opening. and a valve, as II, opening from a passage leading from the outside of the screen to an exhaust, substantially as and for the purpose described.

FREDERICK PRITCIIARD.

\Vitnesses:

FRED C. EARLE, LILLIAN D. KELsEY. 

